smörgåsblogg
Max had his first Halloween adventure at DePiero’s Country Farm in Montvale NJ. We dressed him up like an American.
And on the house front: We agreed with the sellers on a price, the inspection & radon test is scheduled for tomorrow at 10am.
Today was historic for many reasons. Breakfast at the Rockland Bakery, then we made a 3rd visit to our #1 house pick and made an offer on it. Mr. Maximillian met Grampa & Gramma Werberg, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Ambi & Cousin Jerimiah Joseph- all for the first time. Dinner at El Bandido to top it all off.
The home owner countered our offer almost right away, we'll counter their counter offer later on today. We won't say which house it is till we think it's a done deal.
We don't mean to be snobby, but our temporary apartment is pretty much a hole. It is appointed well with nice furniture and kitchenware and such, but the apartment itself leaves quite a lot to be desired. I think I was expecting something more like a hotel. Here are some highlights:
A dead friend greeted us at the door.
More dead friends in the light fixtures.
Hole in the wall from the front door handle that has been repaired more than once. Haven't they heard of a doorstop?!
Gross.
Horribly laid carpeting, plus some places have no padding underneath, some have too much.
The track lighting doesn't match and one casing looks like it can't take the heat of the bulb.
Nice flat-screen TV, but who knows what the red light switch controls; we have not dared to turn it off.
I'm not sure they have ever cleaned behind the washer and dryer, but believe me, I am glad we at least have them in the apartment and don't have to go to a laundromat.
And, hey, at least the lack of cleaning means we get to keep the dollar that was dropped behind the washing machine!!
Sliding around on a shoe box top can be a lot of fun. Who said toys need to be expensive?
A special autumn moment in Piermont New York.
We looked at 6 more houses yesterday and have 2 more planned this afternoon, bringing the total to 15.
We haven't got a good toy box for Mr. Max right now, so he has claimed a drawer in the living room.
We looked at 7 houses yesterday, all in Tappan NY. We eliminated 6 of the 7, meaning we have one 'maybe'. All of the houses had their pluses, but were eliminated for the following reasons:
- Road noise (2 houses)
- Too close to traffic (1 house)
- Bad shape (2 houses)
- Boring (1 house)
The one that is still a contender needs quite some work, but is in a fantastic location and has loads of charm. We'll look at about 4 or 5 more before making any big decisions.
We also learned some new vocabulary:
'Very good condition' = The living room ceiling is falling down (literally).
'Conveniently located' = You like listening to trucks, right?
'Newly renovated kitchen' = We replaced the handles on the rickety old cabinets.
'Convenient to shopping & transportation' = Your front yard is a major commuter route.
'Great investment' = We destroyed a beautiful old home by breaking it up into multiple apartments to try to make some money.
Max felt the need to mark his territory before we left.
I don't think our trip could have gone much better. It was not pleasureable, by any means, but it was not the nightmare I was afraid it could turn into. Max slept like a log the night before leaving Sweden, waking up happy and ready to go. He loved the motion of the airplane taking off (not so much landing), and charmed everyone on the flight, except for the one lady sitting in front of him; but if she hadn't reclined her seat, Max's little toes wouldn't have been able to just touch the tray table in front of him, begging him to kick and kick and kick and kick and kick. He ran about 100 laps up and down the aisles, stopping at various points to stare a people, just to make sure nobody missed him.
Max even managed to take two catnaps, along with dad.
He took one more nap at our new temporary apartment, then slept from 6:45pm to 5am. Not too bad. I think he'll have less jet lag than his parents.
The apartment is now empty & hollow. Max doesn't seem to mind.
We're planning on buying a Radio Flyer when we're back in the states (all-terrain version, of course).
For now, this will have to do:
Max really likes to play with the oven/stove nowadays, so we sometimes have to lock him out of the kitchen when we cook. He knows that mom is in there and wants to find a way in.
Mr. Max Man had a relapse yesterday and did an impressive performance of ten (yes 10) throw-ups. In between them he was happy as a clam.
We finally ended up at the child emergency room, so we can check that off of our list of things to do before leaving Sweden. Damn socialist medicine-- we had to wait two whole minutes to see a doctor. They never did find anything wrong with him, even after blood and urine tests, so we think it was just a stubborn stomach bug.
His appetite isn't quite back to normal (normal=ferocious), but he seems quite okay now.
We don't have a hat for Max that will fit under his helmet, but it was too cold to go for a bike ride without one, so we stretched one over his helmet instead. What a trendsetter!
It was a rough few days (and nights, ugh!), but Max is feeling much better now.
Max was pretty curious about the cat that comes to visit us sometimes.
He looks pretty happy for a boy that thew up bile twice yeterday and 3 times today. We're on our way to the doctor now; this is his first time being sick.
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